Central holds off Commerce to claim Western Mass. Division 1 title

Players and coaches of the Central Golden Eagles celebrate their Western Mass. Division I championship over Commerce Saturday at the Curry Hicks Cage. (The Republican photo by Michael Beswick)

AMHERST - It was all that and more.

A furious comeback by the High School of Commerce came up a little short as the top-seeded Central Golden Eagles held off the Red Raiders 60-58 Saturday at the Curry Hicks Cage to claim the Western Massachusetts Division I championship.

"This was our third goal, starting with the city championship, league championship, Western Mass. championship and state championship so we're three-quarters of the way there,'' Central coach Mike Labrie said.

The Golden Eagles (22-1) will play the winner of Sunday's Centra Mass. title game between St. John's of Shrewsbury and St. Peter Marian on Tuesday at the MassMutual Center.

A fine season for Commerce (16-7), the third seed, comes to a close, but not without giving the fans a thrilling ride to the end.

"We were a little fatigued at the end of the game, but I am so proud of my team,'' Commerce coach Gary Mindell said. "To the victor goes the spoils and I'd like to congratulate Central, they're the Western Mass. champions and they're outstanding champions and I hope they represent the West very favorably in the state tournament.''

Looking exhausted at halftime and trailing by 11, the Red Raiders did not appear to have another half of basketball in them. The Golden Eagles pressured full court relentlessly in the first half and turned over Commerce time and again.

The lead stayed the same after the third quarter, but the big news was foul trouble on both ends of the floor. While Anthony Smith and Jeimy Cintron each picked up their fourth fouls for Commerce in the quarter, starting guards Tyrell Springer (11 points) and Chris Prophet (14 points) for Central joined them on the endangered list.

"We gave away an awful lot tonight and we weren't even suppose to be in this game and being down 11 after three quarters some people might have already headed for the exits,'' Mindell said. "You can't measure the size of our heart and tonight our hearts were enormous. I feel so bad my guys don't have the 'W' to show for the effort they put forth tonight. At the very least we gained a lot of respect from Central and perhaps the fans of Western Mass.''

Three minutes into the fourth quarter a Golden Eagle became extinct. Springer fouled Alex Lopez in the act of shooting and fouled out.

Lopez, who scored a game-high 32 points, made two free throws, a 6-0 run for the Red Raiders to open the fourth quarter and cut the Central lead to five, 49-44.

The two sides went back and forth, the Golden Eagles looking for the knockout blow while the Red Raiders were desperate and determined to upend the top seed. But time was running out.

With less than a minute left in the game they had only trimmed a point off the five-point lead over a four-minute span. But when Central missed the front end of a 1-and-1 the Red Raiders had their chance.

Shadiar Thompson (12 points) drove the lane and was fouled by Prophet - his fifth - with 37.4 to play. The freshman center calmly drained both free throws to make it a 60-58 game.

Commerce had a couple of chances to get the ball back down two but a jump ball went to Central on alternate possession and then a loose ball was recovered by Commerce but the player rolled out of bounds.

With 12 seconds to play the Red Raiders were forced to foul and Central missed another front end of the 1-and-1 situation. Cintron rebounded the ball with 8.9 seconds to play, setting up the game-ending dramatics.

Lopez pushed the ball into the lane but his off-balance shot was off the mark. Cintron grabbed the ball and shot at the buzzer but could not get it to drop.

"Foul trouble hurt us a lot and our guys got to feel the game a little better and know that the refs are calling it tight,'' Labrie said. "Kamari (Robinson) and Shaq (Keynard) hit huge shots for us and had big rebounds down the stretch.

"We didn't hit our fee throws but we defended and rebounded when it counted and obviously hit some big shots between Shaq and Kamari,'' Labrie added. "Without Prophet and Tyrell in the game, that was a good win.''